Southern season ticket holders paid £10m compensation

Southern train PPP-160519-120213001

Published:15:07Tuesday 21 March 2017

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Southern season ticket holders have received a total of £10m in compensation after repeated delays to trains.

The one-off scheme, announced last December by the Government solely for Southern passengers, recognises the severe disruption on the network during 2016 and offers a payout equivalent to a month’s travel.

To qualify, Southern customers must have held at least 12 weeks’ worth of season tickets between April 1 and December 31, 2016.

More than 40,000 claims have been approved so far with more than £10m compensation approved.

A Southern spokesman said: “The one-off season ticket compensation scheme, announced last December by the Government, recognises the severe disruption on the Southern network during 2016.

“As of 20 March, over 40,000 claims have been approved totalling over £10m in compensation. The scheme closes on 30 April and we urge customers who believe they are due compensation to claim online at southernrailway.com.”

Rail operator Govia Thameslink Railway contacted more than 39,000 people as part of phase one, with 32,219 of these processed and a total of more than £7.6m in compensation paid out.

Meanwhile 10,640 manual claims have been processed as part of phase two, with payouts of more than £2.5m.

Around 5,000 claims are still waiting for assessments.

Back in December rail minister Paul Maynard said: “Getting Southern rail services back on track is a priority for the government and I know that what passengers want most is a reliable service.

“But when things do go wrong it is right that we compensate people who have not had the service that they deserve. This is a gesture in recognition of the problems people have faced.”

Disruption was blamed on a combination of Network Rail track failures, engineering works, unacceptably poor performance by the operator, and industrial action by the RMT union.

The union’s dispute with GTR over plans to introduce driver-only operation on Southern services has continued into 2017, although train drivers’ union ASLEF has come to an agreement, with its members being balloted on the deal.